Bands or Chains for Christmas

[geoffsherman]

If you could ask for one or the other Christmas, which would it be? I am leaning towards bands because they are much more portable and I don't have a home gym. I doubt this helps but my numbers are 345/290/420 done without suits or bench shirts. Thanks.

[Travis Bell]

bands.

studies have shown them to have a better $$/lbs ratio. Thats a FACT

[Lones Green]

you can do a LOT more with bands. chains are good to throw in every now and then, but bands are much better bang for your buck.

[Hazerboy]

True on both counts, but chains are different in that if you have some connections you can get some for free. If your parents know anyone who does construction or someone who owns a junkyard, they might be able to get you some old rusty chains for free! They don't even have to be functional, so long as their HEAVY!

[LionLord]

I'll pick chains because they look more hardcore...

[mosley1990]

dont mean to hijack the thread but what are the best bands to start with? i know theres a ton of diff. resistances.

[Travis Bell]

True on both counts, but chains are different in that if you have some connections you can get some for free. If your parents know anyone who does construction or someone who owns a junkyard, they might be able to get you some old rusty chains for free! They don't even have to be functional, so long as their HEAVY!

if you don't have your own gym though (like the OP said) you end up getting your GPP work in by lugging 300lbs of chain in and out of the gym

I realize though you were more referring to my quoted study on $$/lb to which that is a good comparison

[Brian Hopper]

Bands!!!

[geoffsherman]

Thanks everyone. I figured bands would be better since I wouldn't have to be lugging them around like chains. Plus, they will provide something I can take if I travel for work. I am going with the IronWoody band pack as it seems like a good price for the money ($150 for a set of 5).

[Reko]

Bands for sure, more variety of uses:
banded lifts, reverse banded lifts, easier to set up for the most part, variety of loads/thickness, also you can do a lot of warmup/stretching/rehab stuff with the smaller ones.
Plus they are INCREDIBLY portable and don't cost much to ship.

If you have your own gym however, chains aren't bad if you can get a good deal on them because they are cool, have a different strength curve than bands (depending on how you do it), and can be used for safety reasons or suspended lifts.

[Eric Downey]

bands

[FFHill]

studies have shown them to have a better $$/lbs ratio. Thats a FACT

this made me laugh.

[RHarris]

From a practical standpoint, if you could only have one, I think I'd go with bands as well. But can't get around the "coolness" factor of the chains..LOL. Especially great is the totally bewildered look from the spandex crowd if you have to schlep them in and out of the gym everytime. I'll never forget the time when my late training partner and I were dragging a couple of hundred pounds of chain past the cardio equipment and one of the stairmaster geeks said "Hey, why you guy dragging those chains in here?" My partner looked at the guy straightfaced and said "Ever try to push a chain?"...turned back and kept on to the powercage without another word. The look on the guy's face was priceless!! Good Times!

Here's to absent friends.
Robert Harris
Las Vegas, NV

[jtteg_x]

Light + Average bands. Mini bands for Speed/DE work.